It's About Time
"I loved you."
"Light?"
"Still feel like talking?"
"Light, wh-where are you? I can't see you..."
"Didn't think so."
"Light wait! I can't... I can't breath... where are you?"
"Fang?"
"Light?"
"...Fang?"
"L-Light...?"
"FANG!" Her name pierced Fang's ears as her eyes fluttered between open and closed. A watery blue eye looked down at her with a fear she'd never seen in it before, "Fang! Fang!"
"L-Li..." She choked as she tried to answer the call, something in her throat—thick and metallic—made it difficult, "Light. Th-There you are."
"I'm right here, Fang-" The warrior would have cupped the soldier's face but found her body less than responsive. It was less due to pain than the it was that her body felt like lead, growing heavier by the second.
"Fang! Hang in there, come on! You have to- you have to..."
"Light, I can't..." The growing pit of emptiness forming in her gut was growing into a kind of pain Fang hadn't felt before. It was almost a more emotional pain than physical. And the frantic cries and horrified look on Lightning's face only made it worse, "It's... It'll be okay." She forced out with a poorly concealed wince.
"Okay, just hang on Fang. I'm going to make it stop okay?" The fearful voice was accompanied by a glow that Fang felt encompass across her. But a glow was all it was. The healing spell did little to ease the hurt spreading through her body, "Come on, heal... heal!" Lightning's cries were now sharp and frustrated, "Damnit! Why won't it heal!"
"L-Li... L..." Fang's hand managed to touch one of Lightning's, stopping her for a brief moment, "L-Light..."
"Fang... please just... just stay still." The soldier pleaded, "Stay with me. DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME AGAIN!"
"I..." The commander's fell onto Fang's bloodstained sari as the warrior's breaths became irratic, "I... I lo-" Pained wheezing accompanied by sickening coughs began to fill the air.
"Fang!" Lightning attempted to soothe the other woman's apparently suffering but to no avail, "Fang just... shhh... just..." Words were no use as the Oerban took one last, frantic gasp of air before falling completely still, her hand still clutched around Lightning's. Then there was silence. The air grew as lifeless as the body in the Lightning's arms.
"Fang?" She whispered, scared of not receiving an answer—which she didn't, "F-Fang...?" Trembling, blood-stained fingers traced the warrior's jawline before brushing aside hair from lifeless eyes. Lightning's own eyes grew dark as she slowly closed Fang's eyelids. Cerulean blue turned into a storm grey as she gently lay her beloved on the ground.
Tears blurred the soldier's vision as she slowly pulled herself up out of the pool of blood that had formed around her. No, not tears. Anger. Rage. The blood pool had little to do with how Lightning was slowly beginning to see red. All the pain began to boil into fury, which manifested and radiated off her in arcs of electricity. Fang was dead. Killed. Slaughtered. As if on cue, Lightning's gaze darted to Eve, still standing not five feet away. Lightning made a half-hearted attempt to focus but there was too much rage coursing through her body and mind. There was no Lance Corporal, no incomplete fal'Cie. All she saw was a murderer that needed to be cut down.
"I expected a little more from the one chosen host Ragnarok." Eve's silence-ending words were like needles in Lightning's ears, acid in the back of her throat, "Such a disappointment..." The arcs of electricity danced dangerously around the commander, "Such a waste."
Lightning let out a blood-curdling scream as she finally lost the last slither of control over her fury. She launched herself at Eve, flipping Blazefire Saber off the ground with a boot, catching it and swinging it wildly at her target—now marked for death. Furiously wild, reckless and deadly slashes were thrown at Eve but each were evaded or dodged. This only proved to further push Lightning over the line and off the edge.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed, letting loose a chaotic storm of electrical energy. It hit Eve square on, and while the incomplete fal'Cie wasn't complete unaffected by the blaze of white energy—forced back a few steps by the sheer force—she merely absorbed the brunt of it, redirecting the rest into the ground easily, "HOW COULD YOU!" The soldier didn't seem phased by the ineffectiveness of her attacks, both magical and physical. It only fueled her desire to unleash hell upon Eve, "WHY?" Ruin spell after Ruin spell was unleashed but none of them had much of an effect, merely crackling against the crystal armor.
Lightning let out another bereaved cry as she flipped backwards, folding her weapon into gun mode. She let out a hail of gunfire at Eve, the unstable magical energy around her seeping into her weapon, each shot more powerful than the next until it seemed as though she were firing blasts of white fire at Eve. The recipient of the bullet storm was forced backward into a defensive position. But while she could do nothing but use her armor to shield herself, other than the occasional fragment of crystal being shot off, Eve was still mostly unaffected by the attack.
"Does it hurt Lightning?" The taunting voice twisted the soldier's insides, clutched at her heart and squeezed with a grip as tight as her own on the gunblade in her hand, "Your inability to act ended the one you care about the most."
"Shut up..." Lightning hissed, continuing her assault—continuing to fail to reach her target.
"I'm sorry, cared." A badly timed lunge at Eve caused Lightning to be deflected and countered, "Past tense should be appropriate, I suppose... since she IS dead." A crystal fist buried itself in her gut but she felt nothing. Nothing could match the pain of her anguish coursing through her veins.
"Shut. Up." She grunted, yet again, throwing herself at the incomplete fal'Cie. Blazefire Saber was a blur as Lightning threw all she had into it. Weapon and wielder became one as the Commander disregarded all her combat knowledge and awareness and poured everything into her offensive assault, fully aware it left her dangerously vulnerable to any counter attack by her opponent. She just didn't give a damn at this point. If she had, she would have noticed Eve had had yet to take advantage of the flaw—had yet to take any sort of real offensive action at all.
"How does it feel to lose everything, yet again?" Eve continued her provocation, "To feel the world crumble around you? To feel the life drain from the one you love?"
"SHUT UP!"
"All because you were too stubborn to accept that you can't save everyone. All because you wanted to save me-"
"I WANT YOU DEAD!" Came a scream from the commander that ripped through the air. Just as Blazefire Saber tore through flesh. There was a bright flash of electricity as magical energy exploded from Lightning, through the gunblade and into the chest it was buried in—Eve's chest. Then there was silence.
For what seemed like hours all that was heard were the hard breaths from the soldier. Soon they were joined by an uneven wheeze from the incomplete fal'Cie. The storm behind Lightning's eye began to dissipate as it began to focus. The gentle swaying of the gunblade in her grip caused by the trembling body it protruded from only hastened the return of her senses. She had stabbed Eve's human body—cleanly, through the chest.
"E-Eve." was all that left the Commander's lips before the body jerked suddenly. Lightning's grip on the gunblade slipped as the wounded combatant seemed to stumble backwards, crystal hand clutching at the sword that was slowly beginning to crystallize itself. The remainder of Eve's human body had begun to be engulfed by the crystal, a faint red glow slowly pulsing from the wound in her chest. The sound of grinding rock and crystal filled Lightning's ears before stopping abruptly, plunging her into another eerie silence.
With nothing but half of her face exposed, Lightning tried to catch Eve's eye. When she finally did, she could have sworn she saw a tear escape it before there was a deafening crash as the crystal shattered. The pinkette quickly moved to shield herself from both the flying fragments and the blinding light that exploded from Eve's body. Instead of the sharp crystal shards Lightning expected to pierce her skin, all she felt was an unknown force knock her backwards with such intensity, it felt as though she were knocked out of her own body. The last thing she felt before becoming engulfed in white was weightlessness.
It only lasted for a few moments though. Eventually, blinking at the brightness of her surroundings, Lightning slowly regained her senses, slowly feeling ground beneath her feet. As she grew accustomed to the light around her, she felt her heart sink slightly when the familiarity of where she was kicked in. A long room—almost more of a hallway—lined with unnatural light, adding to the light streaming through opaque windows. On each side, in front of each window was a couch, held up by what seemed like nothing.
"The cradle..." She muttered, already scanning the walls for a way out. In doing so, she began to get the feeling she wasn't alone. Whirling around, she came face to face with Eve. She was fully human, wearing the military uniform Lightning gave her, any evidence of the brutal stab to her chest was gone.
"An ironic title for a place associated with death." Eve's voice was no longer echoed by a god but something told the Commander that Titan wasn't out of the picture. While her guard was up, Lightning did notice the fury that'd pretty much ruled her body and soul had all lulled into a dull aching pain in her chest, "We stand at a crossroads."
"Crossroads?" Lightning frowned while scanning the room again. There was nowhere to go, "Crossroads of what?"
"Of fate." The word sparked a flare of irritation in the commander as her eyes snapped back to Eve.
"What... are you talking about?"
"In killing this body, you successfully allowed for remainder of my powers to be awakened." Lightning's jaw tightened and hand twitched; at both the fact that despite not having his voice, Eve was still talking as Titan; and at the statement of her actions not a minute prior, "However there were unforeseen... complications to my awakening." Eve began to pace as the white walls around them seemed to grow dark. Lightning watched as events leading up to their fight on Titan's throne began to fade in and out—almost as if the walls were acting as video logs.
"These are..." Lightning's eyes danced as she watched images and scenes going as far back as before she'd even left Crystallinus, "These are... Eve's memories?"
"My memories." Eve stated, her tone almost as if correcting Lightning in her mention of the human instead of the fal'Cie, "But I suppose in a way, hers as well." Eve continued to pace, "I... underestimated humanity. It is... much more powerful than any of the fal'Cie could have imagined." Lightning could have sworn she hear Eve behind Titan as she spoke, "But for all it's power—it works like a double-edged sword."
Lightning watched as the image of herself stabbing Eve brutally through the chest flashed before her eyes. A lump formed in her throat as she resisted the urge to look away in guilt.
"Do not doubt your morality," Somehow the words seemed empty to Lightning, coming from Eve, "The conditions of my awakening required the human body to be sacrificed by one who truly believed it had to die." While the soldier understood what Eve was saying, it didn't make her feel any better, "I needed you—if only for a split second—to genuinely believe Eve had to die; to want to truly kill another human. There is something to be said of your humanity if it took such... a drastic measure to achieve that."
This time Lightning did look down; away from the walls that replayed the memory of Fang receiving the same savage, life-ending treatment, by Eve.
"That's... beyond messed up."
"It was the only way to save Gran Pulse... to save your loved ones." The softer tone in Eve's voice caused the pinkette to raise her eyes, "...to save your Oerban."
"Fang?" Lightning's voice cracked as she uttered the name, "She's... She's not-?"
"Her fate is... unknown—as is the rest of the world's."
"So change it." The Commander all but demanded, taking a step towards Eve, "If you're really Titan, you can, can't you?" There was a long silence before Eve responded.
"As I said, my awakening did not go as planned. The early end of the guardian required me to... improvise." Eve said the last word as if using it for the first time, "Alvara was not only the key, but a part of me as well. And with her death before my awakening, that part of me cannot be recovered."
"If she were a part of you, why did she sacrifice herself to save you—to save Eve?"
"As I also said, I underestimated humanity." The walls slowly returned to their original blank, white state, "I was not able to... control it as well in Alvara. Regardless of the reasons, the consequence was a significant loss of power." Lightning frowned again at the disregard to Alva's human side, "I am no longer able to completely restore Gran Pulse to it's original state." The walls began to fade into the slow crumbling of various areas around Gran Pulse. Mountains began to collapse, vast plains began to split and the sky raged with thunder and lightning that set forests on fire. Lightning watched with growing horror at the destruction spreading across the world. Eventually, she saw Crystallinus, then Oerba Neo.
"No-!" She turned to Eve, pointing at the city and village slowly suffering from the world's deteriorating state, "No! You have to be able to do something! Anything! You're a god, aren't you! You ARE Gran Pulse!"
"It is... not that simple."
"Everything you've done—everything you've put us through was to regain the power to fix this! It can't get much more simple than that!" Lightning knew she was losing her cool but the images around her did little to help maintain it, "Eve... Titan... please..."
"You need not beg, Lightning." Eve turned to the soldier, "I do not wish to see Gran Pulse destroyed any more than you do. My plans to rectify the problem have merely... changed."
"So you can fix it?"
"I did say we were at a crossroads, not an impasse." It took just about every last scrap of willpower in her body to resist the urge to lash out and strike Eve across the face, "I have just enough power to stabilize Gran Pulse."
"But I thought you said-"
"However," Eve cut Lightning off abruptly, "It is not enough to restore Cocoon as well." Lightning thought for a moment on the statement.
"What does Cocoon have to do with anything?" Lightning questioned.
"Everything." Eve answered as Cocoon flashed across the walls, withering and crumbling above Gran Pulse, "Gran Pulse and Cocoon are more intricately connected than you can imagine." Eve explained, "Because of how closely they were linked to the fal'Cie, they cannot truly exist without the other. To lose one would upset the balance."
"So eventually this-" Lightning motioned to the destruction taking place across Gran Pulse, "-will happen again? Once your power runs out?"
"Correct." Lightning's heart sank. It wasn't much of a solution at all.
"How long?"
"I cannot say for sure-"
"Guess." Lightning demanded, desperation seeping into her tone.
"Perhaps a hundred years." Eve eventually answered after a moment's pause, "You and your... comrades—Fang included—would be able to live out your lives fully; long before the end would come about once more."
"But it would doom the future generations." Lightning finished what she was sure Eve would have went on to say, "To sacrifice that for happiness now..." The pinkette saw her own flashes of Syd and Noah and knew she couldn't agree to it, "There has to be another way."
"There is." Eve answered almost immediately, as if already anticipating the suggestion, "It's quite simple really: Restore what was originally keeping Gran Pulse stable." The walls, now showing an almost non-existent Cocoon, soon began to seem as if put in rewind. Cracks were filled in, missing chunks were replaced and the glow around it, emanating from the center, began to return. It took Lightning a few seconds to realize exactly what Eve was talking about.
"Fang and Vanille." Eve nodded as the images across the walls switched to the two Oerbans in crystal form within Cocoon, restoring the dead planet to life. The pillar began to glow again, sending pulses of light into the world below, ceasing the destruction taking place, "But, Gran Pulse began feeling the tremors even before they woke up from crystal stasis."
"Together, even as a complete Ragnarok, they were in the same position as I am now." Eve explained, "They may have been enough to prevent the end of Cocoon, but weren't quite enough to preserve it indefinitely."
"But if you added your power to theirs it would be enough." Lightning finished. At Eve's nod, she sighed heavily, "And what about Fang and Vanille?" She had to force the question out, fearful of the answer—though deep down, she knew it already.
"They would be returned to Cocoon to restore balance."
"...Forever?"
"Yes." Lightning turned away from Eve, cursing the fal'Cie under her breath. She walked up to a wall. Like the others, it showed Fang and Vanille crystallized, slowly rotating within the pocket of crystal where Cocoon met the pillar. What kind of sick joke was this? The options of merely delaying the inevitable destruction of Gran Pulse? Or sentencing two of the closest people to her to an endless crystal sleep? To never again be able to see or hold Fang again? She slammed a fist against the wall, "I'm so sick of the sacrifices we have to make because the fal'Cie."
"For the destruction to end, balance must be restored." Eve still spoke in the matter-of-fact tone of voice that got under the Commander's skin, "And to restore balance is to sacrifice." Lightning's hands formed fists again before she pushed off the wall—now fading to its original white—and walking over to Eve, grabbing her by the collar.
"And what would you know?" She hissed, "What would the fal'Cie know about sacrifice? You and your kind have done nothing but cause humanity pain through war and death!" If she were any less frustrated, Lightning would have noticed Eve's lack of struggle against her grip on her collar, "How about you 'gods' sacrifice something for a change? Huh?"
"There is... a third option." Eve spoke after a moment, still unmoving against Lightning's hold. The soldier's brow furrowed as yet again, the growing anger in her was suddenly drained. Removing her grip, Lightning stepped back, as if to signal Eve to continue, "Instead of changing the future of the world directly, it may be possible to indirectly change it by altering the past."
"...What?" Lightning was now officially stumped, too tired to really process the cryptic way fal'Cie seemed to enjoy talking like.
"I can destroy what is left of myself." Eve state bluntly, snapping the Commander to attention.
"And just what the hell would that accomplish?" Lightning was beyond confused. Wasn't Titan a part of Gran Pulse? Wouldn't that mean the fal'Cie's destruction ensure the end of the world? Even through the emotionless tone Eve seemed to speak in, Lightning could believe that Titan was telling the truth about not wanting to see the end of Gran Pulse.
"I am no longer truly a fal'Cie." Eve broke the pinkette's storm cloud of thought, "Even before part of me died with Alvara. Ever since Cocoon's crystallization a decade ago... I was... changed." For the first time, Lightning could have sworn she heard a twinge of pain in Eve's voice, "I am the first and oldest of the fal'Cie. It is the only reason I am still here while my younger... siblings... are not." Eve turned from the Commander as the walls began to cycle through the different fal'Cie of ten years ago. Some Lightning recognized, some she didn't, "But I am little more than a memory; an echo of what the fal'Cie were—not just as an entity, but as an idea, a concept. I am the only thing keeping existence of the fal'Cie alive." The walls began to fade to white again as Eve looked back at Lightning, "For me to cease to exist..."
"It would be as if the fal'Cie never existed in the first place..." Lightning murmured, disbelief evident in her voice, "Changing the past... You're talking about rewriting history... "
"The fate of both Gran Pulse and Cocoon would be free from fal'Cie influence." Lightning put her head in one of her hands, shutting her eyes from the brightness of the room. While she registered Eve's words, it was hard for her to process them fully—even if she did strangely believe them. She did somehow feel that while changing the past seemed like a monumental gamble, it was a better option than the first two she'd been presented with. But what of her friends? Or family? Or...
"What about Fang and Vanille?" She looked back up at Eve.
"The only reason the two of them exist in this time is because of the fal'Cie." Eve replied, "They would be free to live out their lives, free from the shackles of their focus and their destiny to become Ragnarok—but in their own time." Lightning swallowed a lump. She couldn't think of anything better than removing the burden of Ragnarok from the two Oerbans but she'd be lying if she said she didn't want to lose them to the past, "Altering the past would also memories." Eve continued, as if reading Lightning's mind again.
"We wouldn't remember them being here." The pinkette muttered, "I wouldn't remember Fang." It felt like something punched a hole in her heart. The idea that even the pain she felt now would be gone, made her feel that much worse. She couldn't imagine forgetting Fang. She didn't want to. But if it meant the chance for humanity to be free of the fal'Cie... "Why are you telling me all this?" Lightning could have laughed at herself for not realizing sooner. If Titan was really the only one who could change anything, why was he discussing it with her? A mere human? Now that she really thought about it, up until now it was as if Titan were presenting the different options for her to choose.
"Even without the fal'Cie, enmity between Gran Pulse and Cocoon would arise." Eve began to pace again, "While it would no longer be controlled by the fal'Cie and fueled by magic, war would still be inevitable. And even without the fal'Cie it would be devastating to both sides." Lightning actually scoffed. Of course, she should have known the scenario seemed 'too good to be true', "The reason why Fang and Vanille were chosen to host Ragnarok was because of their inner strength." The mention of her friends' names brought Lightning back to full attention, "Even without being l'Cie, without their focus of hosting Ragnarok, the both of them were destined to be key figures in Oerba's conflict with Cocoon. However, it is entirely likely that without Ragnarok, instead of destruction they would bring about peace." The idea made sense to Lightning. The pinkette could see Fang leading the Oerbans in battle, and Vanille at her side fighting for peace instead of war.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Again, I bring up the concept of balance." Eve stopped pacing and turned to look at Lightning again, "It is not enough for just one side to want peace. At the time, Cocoon did not have individuals with Fang and Vanille's potential. With the strength to fight for peace. If such an individual existed on Cocoon in that time, all-out war could be prevented." Lightning could practically feel Eve's gaze burning into her but she didn't need it in order to catch the hint. And she now knew reason she and Titan were having the current conversation.
"Wait a minute—you want to... re-write me into history? Into Fang and Vanille's time?" Lightning couldn't really believe the words coming out of her mouth, "Is that even... possible?"
"Yes." Eve nodded, "For you and only you." She must have noticed the questioning look on Lightning's face for she went on to explain, "You could say that the fact you are here now is the only reason the option to alter history even exists." The Commander sighed heavily, turning from Eve to lean against the nearest wall. Her body felt heavy, ironically fitting as the future of humanity was more or less on her shoulders.
"What would you do?" Lightning finally asked—all enmity towards Titan replaced by weariness.
"The logical choice would have been to restore the Oerbans to their place within Cocoon." Eve trailed off, "However, it did not feel... right." Lightning raised an eyebrow at the fal'Cie, "I am... conflicted." Came an unexpected admission, "You can thank Alvara and Evangeline for that." Lightning almost burst out laughing. Eve looked less amused.
"Humanity's a bitch, huh?" Lightning mumbled, sliding down against the wall to sit on the ground. She was so tired. Tired of fighting, tired of losing things, tired of everything really. Even if she was sent back, there were no guarantees she'd make a difference at all, "And if I fail fighting for peace?"
"I do not believe you will fail." Lightning raised her eyebrow, once again, surprised at the response.
"Careful, that almost sounded like something a human would say."
"I am merely taking into account the variables" Eve almost sounded annoyed, "You are a natural-born leader. Whether you believe it or not-" Eve did miss the scoff from the pinkette, "-People will follow you. You have an indimitading amount of willpower. And of course there is your bond with Fang." The smirk dropped from Lightning's face as Eve mentioned the warrior.
"What do you mean?"
"I do not need to be fully human to understand how close you are to the Oerban." Lightning wasn't quite sure how to take the comment, "In fact, you could say it is because of my fal'Cie powers that I understand just how deep the strength of your bond is." The Commander was silent for a moment longer.
"Strong enough for her to remember me?" She asked quietly, "Will I remember her?"
"I cannot know the fate of a world where I would not exist." Eve answered, though the pinkette was barely listening. It was hard for Lightning to even imagine forgetting her feelings for Fang. They'd been so long in the making, growing and changing over years. They'd imprinted themselves on her very soul. And for as much pain they had caused her, she didn't know if she could stand to lose them. No, she refused to lose them, fabric of time be damned.
"Besides, it seems you already know the answer to that question." Eve's voice brought her out of her thoughts, "Which means you have also already made your decision." Lightning pulled herself to her feet before looking into Eve's eyes. The pinkette watched as Eve stepped a few feet backwards until she was standing in the middle of the room, a deep red glow surrounding her. As the glow grew in intensity, the room slowly looked as if it were dissolving.
"How do you feel?" Lightning found herself asking before really realizing. A curious expression crossed Eve's face as her own body began to mimic their surroundings, slowly dissolving, starting at the tips of her limbs.
"About what?"
"Being on the verge of ceasing to exist. Us humans call it dying." Eve took longer to respond than Lightning would have guessed.
"How do you feel?" She eventually deflected with a question, now with only her upper torso left, the red glow now engulfing the space around the both of them.
"About what?"
"Being on the verge of losing all you are now to become one of the key players in the prevention of a war that will redefine the future of humanity." Lightning found herself let out a laugh despite herself. Even through the blur of red she could have sworn she saw a smile on Eve's face, "I believe you humans call that being a hero?"
"More like being crazy stupid, getting in way over your head." Lightning watched as the last of Eve's face finally began to disappear.
"Funny, I hadn't been aware there was a difference." Eve added before she dissipated completely leaving Lightning to laugh with a mixture of amusement and unease.
"There isn't."
The glow was beginning to dim now, her vision growing dark. Doubt started to creep into the corners of her mind and fear began to wrap itself around her heart and soul. Before the light was gone completely, the pinkette shut her eyes, remembering the faces of each and everyone one of her friends, of her family, her loved ones. She reminded herself of what she was doing this for, what was at stake. By the time the weightlessness had set in, all the fear and doubt had been forced away by a renewed determination and her reawakened strength of will.
And after what seemed like decades of nothingness, two cerulean blue eyes opened wide to take in a whole new world.
Bring on the flames!